Best Trumpet - Middle School Student

Any opinions on the best brands of trumpets to purchase for the middle school student? I recently ran across R.S. Berkeley. The quality seems good and you can't beat the price. Any opinions on this brand??

I've never heard of that particular brand. IMO, the most important criteria is to make sure that your local repairman will work on them. Some repairmen won't work on the Chinese made horns because they can be broken during the repair process! As a general rule, avoid anything that comes from Wal-Mart/Sam's/Costco. Stick with the traditional American/Japanese brands. Yamaha, Blessing, Getzen, Kanstuls (If you can find their student models -- they don't produce them anymore). My picks would be the Yamaha 2320 series or the Getzens. I do not recommend Bach student trumpets. One alternative, via ebay, is the Olds Ambassador. They're great horns and were solidly built. Make sure that it's in good condition though. I would avoid brands like First Act, Lark, Morelli, Bessons (note the S on the end -- don't confuse it with the Besson brand), anything from China or India, or anything marketed as being made with "German engineering." Hope this helps.

My top choice I tell any of my private/band students is Yamaha. They have excellent student horns. Bach and Getzen are not too far behind. Getzen trumpets are fmaous for the quality of their valves, they are excellent. I might put them a little higher then Bach. Those would be my top 3 brand suggestions. Jupiter I have noticed becomming mor epopular and I have tried some out and had a couple of students that played on them. They were okay but many of them had serious valve issues. They would stick no matter how well you cleaned them or took them into the shop. I would start with the top 3 though!!

Have you noticed any third valve slide issues on the Yammies you've run across? On my personal Yamaha student horn, from 1995, as well as several others I've seen, the 3rd slide is difficult to operate in the normal fashion.

I would agree that the Yamaha student trumpets are the best out there for beginners. I started on a Yamaha and it held up very well, played in tune, and sounded great (for a beginning instrument). I would stongly suggest that you keep the valves clean and don't use cheap valve oil that will gum up the valves. One thing that makes the yamaha sound as good as it does it the close tolerance between the valve and the valve casing - the closest in the industry by far. However, that close tolerance means that just the slightest bit of gunk build up will make the valves stick.

No, I haven't heard of the 3rd valve slide problem. Make sure it's totally clean. I use "Brasso", which is a brass polish, on my tuning slides to clean them up, and it works really well.

I have never seen a really consistent working thrid valve slide on a horn until recently. Some of the schools I sub in I noticed the kids finally moving that slide for their D's and C#'s. I was quite suprised to see that slide working and on every horn it was a newer Yamaha. I can't speak much for the Bach's and other brands but the Yamaha's seem to be quite good with the slide action.

I think a lot of the problem with 3rd valve slides not working is the fact that most beginning players are never taught to use them! If they don't use them, they'll stop working. If more teachers would enforce the use of the 1st and 3rd slides for D and C#, I'll bet there would be more working slides out there. I was lucky enough when I was in school to have a band director who was also my trumpet teacher, so I learned to use the slides early on. For those teachers who aren't trumpet players, I think the use of the slides is not a commonly taught subtlety (sp?) of trumpet playing.

By the way, back to the original post of what trumpets are the best for students, here are a few that I personally encourage beginners to start on (student models): Yamaha, Bach, Getzen, Conn, King, Besson, Accent, and most anything else made in Elkhart by the Conn-Selmer Company. European made trumpets are also a good choice, but mostly, stay away from anything made in India or China. If in doubt, don't pay any less that $400 (new) for a student trumpet. There have been some real dogs bought of e-bay lately - aka. the $50 "real brass" trumpet that is "band director approved". I wish I could find the person selling those things and make him sit in a band of 200 beginning trumpet players for an hour, all playing on those pieces of garbage. Torture. It would be pure torture. />

My personal favorite for a middle school student is the Getzen Model 770. I have had students on Yamaha, Bach, and Getzens - I thought the Getzen has the best valve action as well as the best overall playability.

Have you noticed any third valve slide issues on the Yammies you've run across? On my personal Yamaha student horn, from 1995, as well as several others I've seen, the 3rd slide is difficult to operate in the normal fashion.

On every Yamaha student trumpet I've come across the third valve slides were sluggish. The only problem... they need broken in. Just lubricate the slide and use it... after a while it can and likely will become a very good slide.

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